[unreadable] This proposal is submitted in response to the Notice of Limited Competition (NOT-RR-03-001) forwarded from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) to Principal Investigators of Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grants. Award of COBRE grant 1 P20 RR16435 established a Center for Neuroscience Excellence at the University of Vermont (UVM) and established a coherent infrastructure for Neuroscience research across the UVM campus. [unreadable] [unreadable] The rationale for the present application stems from the outcome of an evaluation by the External Advisory Committee of the Neuroscience COBRE in December, 2002. The committee was generally impressed with the caliber of the neuroscience at UVM; however, one arena in which further development was suggested was to establish the capacity for proteomics based research. As a consequence, the specific aim of this supplemental application is to facilitate the ability of UVM researchers to incorporate proteomics into their studies by requesting: a Ciphergen ProteinChip AutoBiomarker System, a Leica Laser Microdissection System, and a Sorvall Discovery 100 SE Ultracentrifuge. The Leica Laser Microdissection System and the Ultracentrifuge complement the Ciphergen ProteinChip System because they improve upon existing equipment necessary for preparing samples. These equipment items will be installed in the COBRE Cellular/Molecular Core Facility, where their use will be overseen by the Core Director, Dr. Sheryl White, and operated by a full time research technician assigned to the Facility. [unreadable] [unreadable] Acquisition of this equipment will have an immediate impact on the research programs of fifteen neuroscience faculty at UVM distributed across six departments and three colleges. Thus, these instruments would markedly increase the research competitiveness of neuroscientists at UVM by making available state-of-the-art technology that does not currently exist on campus, which would allow them to ask highly sophisticated questions. [unreadable] [unreadable]